Remembering Nigerian Victims of Human Slaughter

BY SIMON REEF MUSA
Today, May 28, 2018, has been set aside by a group of patriots to remember victims of atrocious human slaughter in all parts of Nigeria. Tagged as the National Mourning and Remembrance Day, the event is aimed at remembering and honouring the memories of those killed in the country and calling on the Federal and State tier of government to guarantee the safety of lives of and property.
It’s quite tragic that our nation has come to this pitiful stage, with despair and hopelessness turning Nigeria into an incomprehensible gloom. A nation that once epitomised the hope of the Blackman has become the graveyard for the coloured people. From Sokoto to Port Harcourt, Kaduna to Maiduguri, Yola to Kogi, among other states, ethnic, cult and religious crises have incapacitated our nation’s leadership potentials to rise above human limitations. Nigeria has become the thriving oasis where the devil has taken permanent residency.
At the weekend, gunmen murdered in cold blood no fewer than 30 farmers in Maradun, Zamfara State. In Birnin Gwari of Kaduna State, another set of dare devil merchants of death had made a huge graveyard of innocent citizens by killing nearly 100. Benue state has become a hotbed of killings, with the killings of worshippers, including two priests, attracting international condemnation. In Adamawa state, the attacks on mosques and markets have sent several scores to their really graves.
In Taraba state, violent upheavals have left several hundreds dead, with tension and anxiety hanging in the air. Border killings in Nasarawa state has created a surreal level of human wickedness never seen before. Kogi state has joined the list of violent states as scores of people, including a monarch and his family, have been murdered without any cause. Also, Kwara joined the list as Nigerians watched in horror the killings of no fewer than 35 persons by a terrorist gang of robbers who bombed bank ATMs in Offa.
Niger and Plateau State are not strangers to killings, as occasional outbursts of killings have become synonymous to these states. Kaduna state, especially the southern axis, has become a zone where these demons of death reside. In one day alone, 150 people were killed by gunmen in 2015. From 2016 to date, several hundreds have been killed in Southern Kaduna and many flourishing communities reduced to rubbles, yet the government has not deemed it fit to establish an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camp to cater for the thousands displaced.
The killings of hundreds of Shiites in Kaduna State have remained a watershed in the history of killings. The allegation of killings preferred against the Nigeria’s military by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has refused to go despite denial by the military. Sparks of violent riots in some states of South-west geo-political zone reveals fragile ethnic relations existing among Nigerians. The Killings of 40 students in Yobe State College of Agriculture in Gujba in 2013, and 58 students of the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi in 2014 are sad commentaries of human carnages. The Chibok Schoolgirl tragedy where 276 young girls were abducted on April 15, 2014 only revealed how far these merchants of violence can go in killing the future.
Yes, the Boko Haram insurgency may have been tackled to an extent by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, but the fiery disposition of the Abubakar Shekau-led group has now been replaced with deadly gunmen, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, criminal gangs, among others. These merchants of violence are shaking the foundations of the country to its roots. If nothing is done fast, the labour of our heroes past may turn out an exercise in futility. Considering the bloodshed trailing the country, the security agencies seem overstretched and the journey to Kigali seems inevitable.
When Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai recently told the BBC Hausa Service that the killings in Nigeria are insignificant, he was economical with the truth. The truth of the matter is that reports of killings in Nigeria are sometimes suppressed by the main stream media to hide the failure of the Nigerian state. A nation that cannot guarantee the safety of its minorities cannot be trusted to safeguard the interest of the majority. To avoid reporting the killing of one person on account of number is not only hideous but a desecration of the human dignity.
As we remember the thousands killed in violent upheavals over the years, we must remind our leaders that our nation is slipping down the precipice of disintegration. A committed leadership with irrevocable focus on unity is the requirement in tackling societal issues. Our leaders must rise up above personal greed and put out the flames of ethnic and religious factors threatening our country.
Let us remember that those killed did not want to be killed. They were victims of a failed system that proved incapable of safeguarding them against the rampaging murdering instincts of their killers. In their death, we, the survivors, have become shared victims of their death. The greater honour we can do to the memory of the slain is to ensure that no person, irrespective of religious, ethnic or social status, is allowed to suffer their fates. We can only achieve this when we subject our leaders in all tiers of government to account for their stewardship.